Rose Chiffon Cake

Rose Chiffon Cake (low GL)

This isn’t strictly a chiffon cake as it includes ground almonds, but they do give the crumb a very enjoyable chewiness. It’s also slightly heavier than your standard chiffon, ie; one made with white sugar, white flour and corn flour. This one however, will fill you with a smug sense of satisfaction at having the sophistication to appreciate foods that have not been bleached and pulverised until they resemble chalk. Rosewater gives a delicate hint of Turkish Delight and the petals add a little exotic colour. Suitable for diabetics in small slices.


Cake
4oz Fruit sugar
4oz Ground Almonds
1oz each of Maize flour, Brown rice flour, Sorgum flour and Tapioca starch (or Arrowroot starch)
4 Large Eggs
4oz Butter
8dtsp Rose Water
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp Dried Rose Petals
1 Lemon

Filling
140ml Double Cream
1-2tsp Fruit Sugar
1dtsp Rose Water


Preheat the oven to 170c (160C if fan assisted) and line two 8inch sandwich tins with baking paper.

Melt the butter gently and leave to cool while you get on with beating the egg whites with a pinch of salt and the cream of tartar until they form stiff peaks. Grate the zest from the lemon and juice it.

Using the same beaters or whisk, beat the egg yolks with the fruit sugar, lemon zest and juice in a large mixing bowl until pale and thick. Still beating, add the melted butter in a thin stream – you might need to put a tea towel under the bowl to stop it whizzing around. If you are whisking by hand, add a little butter at a time and whisk until incorporated.

Sift in the flour, ground almonds and bicarb into the butter mixture; tipping in the last crumbs of ground almonds that won’t go through the sieve. Crush the rose petals between your hands to break them down a little and add them too. Add the rose water to the bowl and fold everything gently until just combined.

Fold in a spoonful of the egg white to loosen the mixture and then add the rest all at once, folding gently with a metal spoon just until there are no big chunks of eggwhite left. Scrape evenly into the sandwich tins and bake for 25-30 minutes until risen, pale gold and a cake tester comes out clean. Leave in the tins for about 15 minutes and then leave till cold on a cooling rack.

When you are ready to assemble the cake, whip the cream until it is floppy, but not stiff. Dissolve the fruit sugar in the rose water and stir into the cream. I love rose water so I use the whole amount, but you might want to start with half and add some more if you like it. Use this to sandwich the two cakes together on a beautiful plate. Sprinkle some crushed rose petals over to finish.